On 17 April 2019, the police mounted an anti-narcotics operation and ambushed an unit in Tin Chung Estate, Tin Shui Wai. Inside a bedroom in the premises, the defendant was found. Upon search, the relevant drugs were found inside the premises. The defendant now admits that the relevant drugs were possessed by him for the purpose of trafficking.
The defendant has eight previous criminal records within which two convictions were in relation to possession of dangerous drugs.
The defendant is 28 years old, educated up to Form 5 level. He was unemployed at the time of his arrest. He was divorced with a 12 years’ old daughter who is living with the defendant’s ex-wife.
As submitted by Ms Lam, counsel for the defendant, the Court of Appeal has laid down sentencing tariff in respect of trafficking in dangerous drugs. For trafficking between 10 to 70 grammes of ‘Ice’, the appropriate starting point is 7 to 11 years’ imprisonment. The sentencing guideline has been laid down in the Court of Appeal case of HKSAR v Tam Yi Chun.
In the present case, the relevant quantity of ‘Ice’ is 21.2 grammes. The appropriate starting point should be around 92.93 months’ imprisonment as submitted by Ms Lam. There is no valid mitigating factors in this case, apart from the defendant’s early plea of guilty. Taking into account the defendant’s background, in particular, he is himself a drug addict, I will adopt a slightly lower starting point of 90 months’ imprisonment. Taking into account the defendant’s guilty plea, the sentence is reduced to 60 months’ imprisonment.